Early life

Roth was born in Dulwich, London, the son of Ann, a painter and teacher, and Ernie, a Fleet Street journalist, painter, and member of the British Communist Party until the 1970s.

His father was born with the surname "Smith" in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, to a British immigrant family of Irish ancestry; he changed his surname to the often German/Jewish "Roth" in the 1940s, "partly through solidarity with the victims of the Holocaust, partly because the English were far from welcome in some of the countries to which his job took him".

Roth attended the Strand School in Tulse Hill. As a young man, he wanted to be a sculptor and studied at London's Camberwell College of Art.

Career

Roth made his acting début at the age of 21, playing a white power skinhead named Trevor in a 1982 TV film titled Made in Britain. He played an East End character in King of the Ghetto, a controversial drama based on a novel by Farukh Dhondy set in Brick Lane and broadcast by the BBC in 1986. He played a shy young man in the 1983 Mike Leigh film Meantime.

In 1985, he appeared in the television film Murder with Mirrors. He played an apprentice hitman in Stephen Frears' The Hit, earning an Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. He appeared in several other films towards the end of the decade and in 1989 he had a supporting role as the buffoonish lackey Mitchell in Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. In 1990, he began to enjoy international attention with starring roles as Vincent van Gogh in Robert Altman's Vincent & Theo and Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

Roth and other young British actors of the time, such as Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Bruce Payne, and Paul McGann, were dubbed the Brit Pack, a nickname based on the Brat Pack. Roth was cast as "Mr. Orange" in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 film Reservoir Dogs. In 1994, Tarantino cast him as a robber in Pulp Fiction.

They also collaborated in the 1995 film Four Rooms, where he played Ted. His role as Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe nomination and won him a BAFTA for the same performance.

In 1996, he starred in Woody Allen's musical comedy Everyone Says I Love You. He also starred as "Danny Boodman T.D. Lemon 1900" in The Legend of 1900, and in the same year, he co-starred in the film Gridlock'd. He made his directorial debut in 1999 with The War Zone, a film version of Alexander Stuart's novel. In 2001, he portrayed General Thade in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. Roth was the original choice for the role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series, but he turned it down for Planet of the Apes.

He was considered for the part of Hannibal Lecter in the 2001 film Hannibal before Anthony Hopkins returned to reclaim the role. He appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth and Michael Haneke's Funny Games, then starred as Emil Blonsky / Abomination in The Incredible Hulk.

From 2009 to 2011, he starred in a series on Fox called Lie To Me. He played Dr. Cal Lightman, an expert on body language who assists local and federal law organisations in the investigations of crimes. His character was based on Dr. Paul Ekman, a notable psychologist and expert on body language and facial expressions. In 2010, Roth appeared on the cover of Manic Street Preachers' 2010 studio album, Postcards from a Young Man.

In 2012, he was announced as the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. He starred as FIFA President Sepp Blatter in United Passions, an film about football's governing body, released in 2014, to coincide with FIFA's 110th anniversary, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. However, United Passions grossed only $918 in its opening weekend, and has been now considered to be one of the worst films of all time. Roth later stated that he regretted taking the role in light of the corruption allegations listed against FIFA and Blatter at the time.

Personal life

Roth has a son, Jack, born to Lori Baker in 1984. Jack is also an actor. Roth married Nikki Butler in 1993; they have two sons, Timothy Hunter (born 1995) and Michael Cormac (born 1996). Roth is a supporter of the Green Party of England and Wales.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	The Hit	Myron	Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
1985	Return to Waterloo	Boy Punk
1988	A World Apart	Harold
	To Kill a Priest	Feliks
	Twice Upon a Time
1989	The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover	Mitchel
1990	Vincent & Theo	Vincent van Gogh
	Farendj	Anton
	Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead	Guildenstern
1991	Backsliding	Tom Whitton
1992	Reservoir Dogs	Freddy Newendyke ("Mr. Orange")
	Jumpin' at the Boneyard	Manny
1993	Bodies, Rest & Motion	Nick
	El Marido perfecto	Milan
1994	Captives	Philip Chaney
	Little Odessa	Joshua Shapira	Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
	Pulp Fiction	"Ringo" ("Pumpkin")
1995	Rob Roy	Archibald Cunningham	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Four Rooms	Ted
1996	No Way Home	Joey
	Everyone Says I Love You	Charles Ferry
	Mocking the Cosmos	Myrodemnon / Myron
1997	Gridlock'd	Alexander "Stretch" Rawland
	Hoodlum	Dutch Schultz
	Deceiver	James Walter Wayland
	Animals with the Tollkeeper	Henry
1998	Legend of 1900	Danny Boodman TD Lemon 1900
1999	The War Zone		Director C.I.C.A.E. Award Valladolid International Film Festival Silver Spike European Film Award for European Discovery of the Year Edinburgh International Film Festival for Best New British Feature Tróia Award - First Works Section Jury Award for Best Director & Best First Feature Nominated - Bodil Award for Best Non-American Film Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film
2000	The Million Dollar Hotel	Izzy Goldkiss
	Vatel	Marquis de Lauzun
	Lucky Numbers	Gig
2001	Planet of the Apes	Thade	Nominated - Empire Award for Best British Actor Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Villain Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Invincible	Hersche Steinschneider / Erik Jan Hanussen
	The Musketeer	Febre
2002	Emmett's Mark	John Harrett / Frank Dwyer	Nominated - DVD Exclusive Award for Best Supporting Actor in a DVD Premiere Movie
2003	Whatever We Do	Joe	Short film
	To Kill a King	Oliver Cromwell
2004	Nouvelle-France	William Pitt
	The Beautiful Country	Captain Oh
	With It	"Chicken Louis" Farnatelli
	Silver City	Mitch Paine
2005	Don't Come Knocking	Sutter
	Dark Water	Jeff Platzer
2007	Even Money	Victor
	Youth Without Youth	Dominic
	Virgin Territory	Gerbino
2008	Funny Games	George
	The Incredible Hulk	Emil Blonsky/Abomination
2009	King Conqueror	King Pedro II of Aragon
2010	Pete Smalls Is Dead	Pete Smalls
2012	Arbitrage	Detective Michael Bryer
	Broken	Archie	Stockholm International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
	Möbius	Rostovski
2013	The Liability	Roy
2014	Grace of Monaco	Prince Rainier of Monaco
	United Passions	Sepp Blatter
	Selma	George Wallace
	October Gale	Tom
2015	Fall from Grace	Detective Tabb
	The Hateful Eight	Oswaldo Mobray
	Mr. Right	Hopper
	600 Miles	Hank Harris
	Chronic	David
2016	Hardcore Henry	Henry's Father
	The Brits Are Coming	Peter Fox	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Made in Britain	Trevor	Television film
1983	Meantime	Colin	Television film
	Not Necessarily the News	Gay Man	Episode: "Road Trip"
1985	Murder with Mirrors	Edgar Lawson	Television film
1986	King of the Ghetto	Matthew Long	4 episodes
1987	Metamorphosis	Gregor Samsa	Television film
1991	Tales from the Crypt	Jack Craig	Episode: "Easel Kill Ya"
1993	Murder in the Heartland	Charles Starkweather	Miniseries
	Heart of Darkness	Marlow	Television film
2006	Tsunami: The Aftermath	Nick Fraser	Television film
2009	Skellig	Skellig	Television film
2009-2011	Lie to Me	Dr. Cal Lightman	People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Crime Fighter
2010	Sea Wolf	Death Larsen	2 episodes
2014	Klondike	The Count	6 episodes
	Robot Chicken	The Doctor (voice)	Episode: "Walking Dead Lobster"
2016	Reg	Reg Keys	Television Film ( Broadcast date 06.06.16 BBC1)
2016	Rillington Place	John Christie
2017	Twin Peaks	TBA

[ Source: Wikipedia ]